In response, many workers, in an effort to stay relevant, have changed their work habits.
Leslie Dunbar, project manager for a national accounting practice based on the West Coast, told The Epoch Times that she has a specific daily ritual to ensure that she’s viewed as a vital part of the team, although she’s based on the East Coast.
“I work Pacific time hours by my own choice, because that is when my boss and the rest of the team work,” she said.
“No one asked me to do this. I was proactive in thinking through the adjustments I could make for myself that would help my success and the team’s success.”
Dunbar’s strategy is “spot on,” according to Terri Kurtzberg, professor of management and global business at Rutgers Business School, who said that some burden for effective employee communication needs to be placed on the employer.
“The out-of-sight, out-of-mind problem is very real. But it’s not realistic to say it didn’t work and just come back to the office,” Kurtzberg told The Epoch Times.
“The billion-dollar question is, how do employers manage work without the intangibles that make employees comfortable and how do you know that the work is being done at the levels you expect?”
Another area of concern for remote employees, according to a Live Data Technologies analysis, is that remote workers were promoted 31 percent less often than employees working an in-office or hybrid schedule in 2023.
Live Data Technologies said it looked at a sample size of 2 million white-collar workers split evenly between remote workers and in-office workers.
In 2023, 599,000 people changed jobs within the sample size. Of those, 168,000 individuals left a company and didn’t start a new job within 60 days, which Live Data Technologies classified as involuntary or a “layoff.”
Remote Workers Need to Be More Visible
Dell CEO Michael Dell made that clear in an employee memo released earlier this year that “for remote team members, it is important to understand the trade-offs: Career advancement, including applying to new roles in the company, will require a team member to reclassify as hybrid onsite.”Rachelle Klozik holds two remote hats as a team supervisor and employee at a Michigan IT company while living in Florida.
She told The Epoch Times that remote employees and supervisors need to engage with co-workers about more than work to remain consistently visible.
“I meet with my team online frequently, and we talk about what’s going on in their lives and how I can work with them better,” she said.
“We have things. ... like after-hours Zoom calls and parties and you have to show your face and be involved, showing the company you’re engaged. But there’s more than work to discuss.”
Klozik said the onus to show a human side to remote employee interactions is her responsibility as a supervisor.
“I manage people, and if I don’t give them something relatable, people won’t like working for me,” she said.
Not everyone is enamored with remote employees.
“I don’t know if you saw this study the other day, but what this study clearly showed is that when people who have the ability to come downtown to an office, but when they stay home, sitting on their couch with their nasty cat blanket, fiddling on their laptop diddling on their laptop — if they do that for a few months, you become a loser. It’s a study. We’re not losers, are we?” he said.
A Two-Way Street
Kurtzberg acknowledged the negative viewpoint that some employers have about remote workers whom they have never met and said there is a straightforward way to solve that issue: People simply need to go into the office occasionally, even if they’re not asked to.“It’s easier to reach out to them once you’ve met them. They need to go in and develop a personal connection. People do best when they get to know someone on a one-on-one basis, not a giant Zoom call,” she said.
However, employers must be cognizant of the potential legal implications of laying off remote staff, according to employment attorney Jacklin Rad of Fisher Phillips in Los Angeles.
“What if many of your project managers work from home to balance work and caregiving responsibilities?“ Rad said in a written statement to The Epoch Times. ”Are they predominantly female employees? Using remote worker status as the layoff criteria could be unlawful if it has a disparate impact on women.”
Dunbar, who is also a mother, said she lets her bosses know that she’s serious about her remote work by behaving as if she were on site—even though she’s thousands of miles away.
“I get ready in the morning and dress professionally each day, same as if I were going into the office, and I have my video on as much as it makes sense to add some personal connection,” she said.
“I guess the summary for me is to be proactive and team-minded. I have found those traits typically lead to being seen as a valuable addition regardless of where you sit.”
